A fire brigade manager has been arrested after a car ploughed into a picketing firefighter outside Croydon fire station.

Stunned firefighters rushed to help Red Watch colleague Tamer Ozdemir, who screamed out in pain after being struck by the car.

Station manager Chris Young who is believed to have been in the car at the time was arrested by police.

Mr Ozdemir, believed to be in his 40s, was taken by ambulance to St George’s Hospital in Tooting as a priority suffering from a serious injury to his pelvis.

Enraged firefighters, who had been protesting since 10am against changes to shift patterns, began hurling abuse at strikebreakers leaving the scene, banging on the side of the fire engines shouting
“scabs” and “traitors”.

Mick Shaw, president of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) was with the protesters when the incident happened at about 3.20pm.

He said: “A fire engine returned from an incident and drove into the fire station, its crew refusing to wind down their windows and talk to the pickets.

“It was followed by a car driven by the officers, and as the pickets tried to talk to the driver of the car, it accelerated suddenly and one of the striking firefighters was thrown up and into the
windscreen.”